Exploring the legacy of the rationalist Rishonim (medieval Torah scholars), and various other notes, by Rabbi Dr. Natan Slifkin, director of The Biblical Museum of Natural History in Beit Shemesh

Monday, April 29, 2019

Of Dogs And Apes

You've all surely seen the shocking cartoon in the New York Times International Edition depicting Bibi as a guide dog (yet depicting him as a German dachsund rather than as a labrador), leading a blinded, Judaized Trump, by an artist who had previously compared Israel to Nazi Germany. You might even have seen Bret Stephen's op-ed in which he slams the NYT for it. But you might not have seen the comments to Stephens' article, in which many people - including Jews - claim that there is nothing wrong with the cartoon.

Their claim, at first blush, might seem reasonable. The argument goes as follows: Surely there's nothing wrong in pointing out that Trump is easily manipulated, nor that Bibi is a savvy operator. The "guide dog" metaphor is simply a way of illustrating that. Nothing antisemitic about it.

The simple response to that is as follows. Imagine if Obama had been accused of not coming up with any original policies, and simply mimicking the policies of others. And since another word for mimicking is "aping," a cartoon would have been drawn of Obama as an ape. It is absolutely inconceivable for the NYT to have published such a cartoon, and the people defending the dog cartoon would never defend that one.

And the reason would be legitimate. You can draw other people as an ape, but not Obama. Because Obama is black, and there is a long and sordid history of black people being depicted as apes and subhuman. By the same token, there is a long and sordid history of Jews being described as dogs and manipulators.

The very defense of the cartoon by many people gives rise to an important question: How is it that people can be exquisitely sensitive to racism, and yet be oblivious to similar themes in antisemitism? (The same question applies to Corbyn and his followers in the UK, but I suspect that the answer may different there.)

“How is it that people can be exquisitely sensitive to racism, and yet be oblivious to similar themes in anti-Semitism?”

my response:

The answer is so simple that it can be summarized in two words: Political Correctness.

According to the political Far-Left’s rules of Political Correctness, it is correct and socially acceptable to be exquisitely sensitive to anti-Black racism, and at the same time, to be oblivious to blatant anti-Semitism.

The mainstream-news-media, especially the New York Times, has been governed by political Far-Left’s rules of Political Correctness for many years, and more so with each year that passes by.

“For a growing number of progressives, anti-Semitism has become an ideological obligation, as central to their political identity as the Universal Basic Income, Green New Deal, a 70-percent marginal tax rate, and free higher education.

“If the occupation [of the West Bank] ended tomorrow, Israel would still have a nationalist and religious identity at odds with the Left’s broadly post-nationalist and post-religious vision.”

SOURCE: 2019 March 12 The American Left’s Abandonment of Both Israel and the Jewshttps://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/2019/03/the-american-lefts-abandonment-of-both-israel-and-the-jews/

“The Bolsheviks and their heirs [the Far Left] despised small European nationalities, as well as religion. So Jews as a people are a double target.

SOURCE:Fair Criticism of Israel? What About the Palestinians? by Eric Rozenmanwww.algemeiner.com/2019/04/14/fair-criticism-of-israel-what-about-the-palestinians/

===================================If you want the truth about Israel and the Middle East, then do not waste your time with the FAKE NEWSof The New York Times and the Israel-bashing mainstream-news-media.

Non-religious Jews in America tend to lean heavily to the left of the political spectrum, while religious Jews tend to lean to the right. I'm willing to bet than any American Jew who defends this overt anti-semitism is politically on the left. Jews and Israel are too successful to be considered victims by the left, and are instead seen as exploiters and oppressors. Many leftist Jews are happy to play along with this bigotry, since their connection to Judaism does not outweigh their adherence to leftist ideology. You'll also notice that their sensitivity to anti-semitic themes is very much alive and well when a white supremacist commits it, for this very reason. I also believe many of these Jews suffer from a form of Stockholm Syndrome, in which they are constantly trying to appease their anti-semitic ideological allies in the hopes that they will be seen as fair-minded and objective.

I also believe that if all Jews were more united in condemning anti-semitism - including the variety that hides under the guise of anti-Zionism or "criticism" of Israel, it would be much more difficult for anti-semitism to be mainstreamed like it currently is. Jewish support or hand-waving for them, provides necessary cover for their bigotry.

By the same token, there is a long and sordid history of Jews being described as dogs

Is this actually true? People the world over typically insult each other by calling each other dogs. Even in pro-dog cultures like that of the anglo-saxons, it remains the favorite insult for objectionable women. However, in the thousands of hours of endless anti-semitism 'education' I have been subjected to over the years, I don't remember this Jews = dog theme. It seems to have just been made up for the latest iteration of the Stupid Party 'Dems are the real racists' inanity.

“On the news side, [ New York Times] editors refused to correct both the false report that a Pew survey found that nearly half of Israeli Jews favor expelling all Palestinians, as well as the completely unfounded claim that most of Jaffa’s Arab residents were forcibly expelled from their homes in 1948.”

SOURCE:Anything Goes in New York Times Coverage of Israelby Tamar Sternthal / JointMedia News Service, 2019 April 9 www.algemeiner.com/2019/04/09/anything-goes-in-new-york-times-coverage-of-israel/

===================================

PS: Please tell people to STOP BUYING the falsehood-filled The New York Times!

"How is it that people can be sensitive to racism but oblivious to racism?"

B/c the chief characteristic of a leftist is support of what he perceives as the victim. Be it the working class, unions, blacks, women, gays - you name it. And it is very hard for older people to shift their paradigms as to who is the victim and who is not. Nothing is changing their opinion, and those are the ones still reading that paper and defending it. But they are dying out, and a new generation has arisen .

Note the relationship between the theme in this cartoon and the screed by the Chabad shul shooter the next day. In it he wrote how Trump is a pawn of Netanyahu, the same idea represented in this cartoon.

The world has hated Jews for thousands of years, starting from when Amalek attacked us on our way out of Egypt.

Antisemitism temporarily became politically incorrect in the aftermath of the Holocaust, but 75 years later, it is clear that it is now once against politically acceptable for the non-Jewish world to hate Jews.

At the Seder every year, we learn that "In each and every generation they rise up against us to destroy us". One has only to watch the news to see proof of this.

This is not a post about why it is wrong to have illegal minyanim in basements. Other people have already written about that with great ...

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